The answer is water.
Water is homophonic with mice.
The wind wrinkled the skin and the rain blossomed. Although it is tasteless, it is indispensable. I think it's a mouse in the zodiac.
Rat, the first of the 12 zodiac animals. The first symbolic meaning of the mouse is spirituality, including its intelligence and performance channeling; The second symbolic meaning of the mouse is its strong vitality.
There are three main reasons why rats rank first in the zodiac: First, the arrangement of the zodiac in folklore stories. Secondly, Chinese ancient scholars explained the relationship between earthly branches and Xiao beasts from the perspective of twelve o'clock in ancient times. Thirdly, according to China people's belief in Yin and Yang, twelve kinds of animals are divided into Yin and Yang, and the Yin and Yang of animals are arranged according to the odd-even difference of toes. Animals generally have the same number of toes in front, back, left and right, only mice have four front feet and five rear feet, even and odd, and things are rare, so they naturally rank first.
Liu Zongyuan, a writer in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a fable about a man born in the second year, saying, "The mouse is God because he loves it." . For another example similar to the characters in Liu Zongyuan's fable, see Qing Codex: "What's Yancheng's surname? The owner thinks that the core memorial of life is a mouse, but he doesn't have a cat. When he sees mice, he needs to forbid people to catch them. " For a long time, mice have been enjoying themselves, going in and out every day, not afraid of people. "
There was a festival in history when mice married women. Generally, on the 25th night of the first month, every household doesn't light a lamp that night, and the whole family sits on the kang in the hall, quietly eating food such as "mouse claws" made of flour in the dark, and making no noise to provide convenience for mice to marry women, so as not to offend mice and bring hidden dangers to the coming year. Residents in Taiwan Province Province think that the third day is a small year, and it is said that the night of the third day is the day when mice get married. Folk paper-cutting "Marry a mouse" is the embodiment of this belief, so people don't light lights in the middle of the night, sprinkle rice and salt on the ground, and sleep in the morning, which does not affect the happy event of mice.
In the past, there was a custom in Shanghai to avoid the failure of mice. When a mouse goes out for food, it falls to the ground, which is called "mouse failure". It is said that most of the people you see are unlucky, or you will die if you are ill, so you must get rid of them. Its method is to beg for white rice along the street, call it 100 meters, go home and cook, and it will be solved after eating.
In Jianghan Plain, Hubei Province, the first night is regarded as the day when a mouse marries a girl, commonly known as "adding a box to a mouse". On that day, every household should put bread with flowers in the dark, and it is forbidden to grind rice and flour. Adults and children are not allowed to make noise. If they disturb the mice, they will make trouble in the coming year. There is a custom of "steaming blind mice" in some areas of Qinghai. Every year on the 14th day of the first lunar month, family members knead dough into twelve mice without pinching their eyes, and then steam them in a steamer. After the Lantern Festival, they put them on the table, lit a lamp to burn incense, and begged the mice to eat only grass roots and not hurt crops to ensure a bumper harvest in a year. On the first day of the first lunar month, the Korean people will smoke rats and make a fire on this day. The farmer's children scattered straw on the ridge, lit it, burned the weeds and drove away the voles. This kind of folk activity is beneficial to killing rats and insects, and plant ash can also fertilize the fields. In addition, Ziri is a mouse, so it is symbolic to smoke the mouse's fire on this day, which makes people psychologically satisfied.
The birth years of people belonging to the zodiac are: 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984,1984.
Historical origin
Legend has it that one day, the Jade Emperor will arrange the Zodiac, and he designated cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs, pigs and cats. The next day, the Jade Emperor ranked them. At that time, cats and mice were good friends. The cat said to the mouse, "You should wake me up early tomorrow. I am one of the 12 Zodiacs, and I will be ranked second in heaven tomorrow. " The mouse readily agreed.
The next day, the mouse woke up early. He didn't wake the cat, but went to heaven by himself. At that time, it happened to be the second time. The Jade Emperor arranged the twelve zodiac animals in the order of ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig and cat. The jade emperor asked the animals if they had any opinions. The mouse objected: "I don't think cats should be chosen. He has no respect for you at all. " You see, he is still sleeping, and he doesn't care about your arrangement of the zodiac at all. "The jade emperor saw the cat really asleep! He broke out in a rage. In a rage, he decided never to allow cats to go to heaven again. At the same time, he replaced the cat with a mouse. The mouse spoke again: "I must be the first!" """why? Is your contribution greater than that of an ox? ""People think I'm much bigger than an ox. " The Jade Emperor had no choice but to let people judge him. People from the world to the clouds say, "Oh! What a big cow! " Then, they saw the mouse standing on the cow's head and said, "What a big mouse! It is even bigger than a cow! " The jade emperor had to put the mouse first.